


Mourning

by kyrdwyn



Series: Beloved [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-20
Updated: 2012-04-20
Packaged: 2017-11-03 23:32:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/387194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrdwyn/pseuds/kyrdwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He can't stay in their rooms anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mourning

**Author's Note:**

> Set prior to the main Beloved story arc (which is the first story in this series) and contains spoilers for it.

Slade appeared as Jason was pulling clothing off hangers and tossing them onto the floor. He didn't say anything, waiting until Jason had finished before picking up half of the clothes. Jason picked up the other half, heading out to the hallway and down to a suite near the ones Talia and Slade used.

Still silent, Slade set the clothes down on the bed with Jason's pile and followed him back to the suite that Jason and Tim had shared. Tim, his Beloved, dead. Jason stopped in the middle of their suite, staring at the bed they'd shared for too few years. He couldn't sleep in it anymore, couldn't stay here, surrounded by his memories of Tim. He'd lay awake the previous night, clutching one of Tim's spare eyepatches and planning how to avoid the guards at Tim's gravesite, exhuming his Beloved's body, and using his Grandfather's Lazarus Pit to bring Tim back. Surrounded by Tim's fading scent, he'd ached for the chance to hold his Beloved once again.

When the sun peeked through the window, Jason had made up his mind. He'd started moving his belongings that morning. Tim's would remain in their suite, a shrine to his Beloved, but Jason could no longer stay there. He didn't trust himself to stay there anymore.

He looked around the room. The clothing had been the last of his belongings. He turned to see Slade standing by the coffee table, holding a picture frame. Jason knew which picture that was. Tim and Slade, on Tim's twelfth birthday. His Beloved smiling brightly for the camera, Slade behind him as they posed in front of one of the displays at the Kennedy Space Center. Tim had once said that had been his best birthday ever, until he'd gotten together with Jason.

Slade's one blue eye shimmered with unshed tears. "Keep it," Jason heard himself saying. "Tim would want you to have that one. It was one of his favorites."

Nodding, Slade looked up at Jason. "I never told him where we were going, but he'd been so excited to watch a shuttle launch on television not long after I took him in that I figured this was the perfect birthday trip. He seemed so surprised I would even do that for him."

"He said that was his best birthday present ever." Jason paused, remembering how happy Tim had looked when discussing the trip. He found himself tearing up again.

He jumped when Slade pulled him into a hug. "I miss him too," Slade murmured.

Jason hugged Slade back, unable to speak. And when his mother came in, stroking his hair and adding her warmth to the hug, Jason didn't feel so alone anymore without his Beloved.


End file.
